Method and apparatus for controlling data access rate of an optical disc driver

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatuses are provided for controlling data access rate of an optical disc player. The method includes steps of (1) utilizing a micro-controller to decide whether an action of an instruction of a predetermined data processing is an extraction operation or a play operation; (2) driving the spindle motor and a pick-up head to retrieve data from an optical disc at a first data access rate by the micro-controller while the action of the instruction of the predetermined data processing is an extraction operation; and (3) driving the spindle speed and the pick-up head to retrieve data from the optical disc at a second data access rate which is less than the first data access rate by the micro-controller while the action of the instruction of the predetermined data processing is a play operation.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a method for controlling an optical discplayer. Specifically, it relates to a method for controlling dataaccessing rate of the optical disc player.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The management and storage of documents is very important for a companyor an individual. In the past, data was recorded on paper. Paper isinconvenient, especially for large amounts of data. Digital data storedgenerally in the storage media of a computer. A variety of storage mediacan be used to store the digital data of a user, such as an opticaldisc. Optical discs are cheap, small, and store large volumes of data.Therefore, it is convenient for users to store data by recording data onoptical discs.

Besides text data and program data, the optical disc is generally usedto store multimedia data, for example, audio stream or video stream, andan optical disc player is used to retrieve the data from the opticaldisc. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an optical disc player system 10according to the prior art. The optical disc player system 10 includes amicro-controller 11, a servo circuit 12, a motor driving circuit 14, aspindle motor 16, a track controlling circuit 18, a pick-up head 20, anoptical disc 22, a non-volatile memory 24 stored a firmware, and a DRAM26. The micro-controller 11 receives instructions inputted from acomputer system to control operation of the optical disc player system10, and manage operations of the motor driving circuit 14, the trackcontrolling circuit 18, and the pick-up head 20 via the servo circuit12. The micro-controller 11 also receives source data retrieved by thepick-up head 20, and feedback the digital data to a host 99 via the DRAM26 as a buffer after decoding the source data. The motor driving circuit14 controls the rotation speed of the spindle motor 16 to drive rotationof the optical disc 22. The track controlling circuit 18 controls thepick-up head 20 to retrieve the data from the track of the optical disc22, that is the track controlling circuit 18 controls the pick-up head20 to progress track seeking and track locking. In addition, the opticaldisc 22 is a kind of pure data disc, audio disc recording music, orvideo disc recoding image and music. Generally, the micro-controller 11comprises a microprocessor for executing a firmware stored in thenon-volatile memory 24. In some optical disc player system, themicro-controller 11 further comprises a digital data processor (ordigital signal processor (DSP)) cooperated with the microprocessor toenhance the performance of the micro-controller 11. Therefore, the host99 only sends high-level control commands to the micro-controller 11 ofthe optical disc player system 10, and the micro-controller 11 executesthe corresponding firmware to control operation of the optical discplayer system 10 according to the control commands. For instance, whenthe host 99 needs the data of the optical disc 22, only needs to send aninstruction of data processing and assign the address of the data. Themicro-controller 11 executes the corresponding firmware of the opticaldisc player system 10 to achieve the object of data retrieving of thehost 99 through operations (such as to reach particular rotation speedof the spindle motor 16, moving and track locking of the pick-up head20, and receiving the reflection of the laser from the optical disc 22)of the servo circuit 12, the spindle motor 16, the track controllingcircuit 18, and the pick-up head 20.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the optical disc 22 retrieved by the opticaldisc player system 10 shown in FIG. 1. After power on, themicro-controller 11 initials and enters a main function 100; the opticaldisc player 10 is enabled at this time and is ready to retrieve theoptical disc 22, comprising the steps of:

Step 102: receiving instructions inputted from the host 99.

Step 104: judging which type of the instructions received from the host99; runs step 106 while the instructions are instructions of dataprocessing; runs step 110 while the instructions are othersinstructions.

Step 106: controlling the motor driving circuit 14 via the servo circuit12 to drive the spindle motor 16 and set a rotation speed.

Step 108: controlling the track controlling circuit 18 via the servocircuit 12 to drive the pick-up head 20 to retrieve data from apredetermined track; run step 102 while finish this step.

Step 110: executing corresponding action of the instructions; run step102 while finish.

An application program will transmit the instructions of data accessingto the optical disc player 10 to retrieve data from the optical disc 22when the user executes the application program and intend to get thedata from the optical disc 22. For the video disc, the user utilizes theapplication program to extract data from the optical disc 22, forexample, copy the data and store the data in a hard-disc player of thecomputer. When the micro-controller 11 of the optical disc player system10 receives the instructions of data accessing transmitted by theapplication program, the micro-controller 11 executes the instructionsof data accessing according to the firmware to control the motor drivingcircuit 14, the track controlling circuit 18 and the pick-up head 20.The motor driving circuit 14 drives the spindle motor 16 to set arotation speed (ex. 10,000 rad/min), the track controlling circuit 18drives the pick-up head 20 to operate the track seeking and tracklocking on this optical disc, the pick-up head 20 retrieves the datafrom the predetermined track of the optical disc 22 and feedbacks thedata to the application program of the computer. Therefore, theapplication program stores the data retrieved from the optical disc 22into the hard-disc player.

The spindle motor 16 drives corresponding spindle from a static statusto a maximum speed supported by the optical disc player system 10 whenthe motor driving circuit 14 enables the spindle motor 16. For example,the maximum speed of the spindle of a 50× optical disc player tends to10,000 radians per minute. However, the disc runout of the optical disc22 will cause vibration and track locking of the pick-up head 20 underhigh speed rotation, that is easy to get error bits or the pick-up head20 can not retrieve the data from the optical disc 22 smoothly.Therefore, the micro-controller 11 controls the spindle motor drivingcircuit 14 via a servo circuit 12 to slow the rotation speed of thespindle motor 16 down, for instance, from 10,000 radian/min to 8,000radian/min. At this time, the pick-up header will retrieve the data ofthe optical disc 22 again. When the job of retrieving the data of theoptical disc 22 is finished, the micro-controller 11 controls thespindle motor driving circuit 14 via a servo circuit 12 to recovery therotation speed of the spindle motor 16 to 10,000 radian/min. In otherwords, the slowdown of the spindle makes a lower rotation speed of theoptical disc 22 and a higher successful rate of retrieving data from theoptical disc 22 for completing the operation of data accessing.

Considering the user utilizes the application program to play the videodata of the optical disc 22, that is, the application program decodesthe video data to play on the monitor and speakers equipped in acomputer. First, the digital data of the optical disc 22 are read andstored in the computer for playing by media devices or applicationprograms. The application program can also send commands instructions ofdata extraction (for example, read 10, read 12, read CD, or read CD MSF)to the optical disc player system 10 for data extraction. In the view ofthe optical disc player system 10, the procedure of data extraction isthe same as the steps of copying video data and storing the data in ahard-disk drive. Generally speaking, the retrieving speed of extractionaction is higher than the speed of playing action of the optical disc22. Therefore, the optical disc player 10 has a DRAM 26 as a buffer forstoring the data temporarily and the servo circuit 12 can provide thedata stored in the buffer to the application program when the pick-uphead 20 can't retrieve the data from the optical disc 22.

In one case of playing the video data of the optical disc 22, for somereason, such as low-quality optical disc and the serious vibration ofthe spindle motor 16, will cause transition of the spindle motor 16between higher spindle speed and lower spindle speed. The transitionresults in more and more power consumption. Moreover, themicro-controller 11 wastes time to identify data and results in theimage delay or some kind mosaic of the image on the screen.

Similarly, the transition also affects the operation of playing theaudio data on the optical disc 22. For example, the user can utilize theapplication program to extract audio data from the optical disc 22 andstore the audio file in the Hard-Disk Besides, and the user also canutilize the application program to play the audio data by retrieving theaudio data from the optical disc 22, then the audio data can betransferred to the sound card connected to the optical disc playersystem 10, the audio digital data can be transferred to analog signalvia DAC (Digital-to-analog converter), and the analog signal can beoutput via speaker connected to the sound card. As described above, thetransition between higher spindle speed and lower spindle speed andtransition time will cause the analog signal will be terminatedtemporarily and some kind intermittent sound outputted from the speaker.

In conclusion, the optical disc player system 10 of the prior art can'tjudge the action of instruction by the computer. Therefore, the opticaldisc player system 10 of the prior art still retrieves data(video/audio) from the optical disc 22 in the maximum spindle speed andthe transition between higher spindle speed and lower spindle speedstill results in low quality when playing a video disc or an audio disc.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The main objective of the present invention is to provide a method forcontrolling the data accessing rate of the optical disc player.

The present invention provides a method for controlling data accessingrate of an optical disc player in a computer system, that is,controlling data access rate of retrieving a predetermined track from anoptical disc. The method comprises: utilizing the computer system of ahost to execute a predetermined data processing, and output a pluralityof instructions of data processing to the micro-controller; utilizingthe micro-controller to decide whether action of an instruction of apredetermined data processing is an extraction operation or a playoperation; controlling a spindle motor and a pick-up head to retrievedata from the optical disc at a first data access rate by themicro-controller while the action of the instruction of thepredetermined data processing is an extraction operation; controllingthe spindle motor and the pick-up head to retrieve data from the opticaldisc at a second data access rate which less than the first data accessrate by the micro-controller while the action of the instruction of thepredetermined data processing is a play operation; and transmittingdigital data to the host which executes the predetermined dataprocessing after retrieving the predetermined track from the opticaldisc.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of theinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention. In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an optical disc player according to aprior art.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of data retrieving of an optical disc retrievedby an optical disc player as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a first flow chart of this invention for controlling dataaccessing rate of the optical disc player.

FIG. 4. is a second flow chart of this invention for controlling dataaccessing rate of the optical disc player.

FIG. 5. is a third flow chart of this invention for controlling dataaccessing rate of the optical disc player.

FIG. 6. is a fourth flow chart of this invention for controlling dataaccessing rate of the optical disc player.

FIG. 7. is a fifth flow chart of this invention for controlling dataaccessing rate of the optical disc player.

FIG. 8. is a sixth flow chart of this invention for controlling dataaccessing rate of the optical disc player.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to Table 1, it shows the setting rule of this invention for anaudio disc and a non-audio disc, explained as follow:

(1) Audio Disc:

(a) Extraction operation: The count which the command gaps ofinstructions of data processing lower than the threshold 40 ms achievesmore than 50 during a predetermined cycle, the action of the instructionof data processing is an extraction operation and the data access rateis set to 30×.

(b) Play operation: The count which the command gaps of instructions ofdata processing greater than the threshold 190 ms achieves more than 4during a predetermined cycle, the action of the instruction of dataprocessing is a play operation and the data access rate is set to 10×.

(2) Non-Audio Disc:

(a) Copy operation: The count which the command gaps of instructions ofdata processing lower than the threshold 40 ms achieves more than 200during a predetermined cycle, the action of the instruction of dataprocessing is a copy operation and the data access rate is set to 40×.

(b) Play operation: The count which the command gaps of instructions ofdata processing greater than the threshold 150 ms achieves more than 80during a predetermined cycle, the action of the instruction of dataprocessing is a play operation and the data access rate is set to 10×.

TABLE 1 The setting rule of the present invention Command Type Rotationgap of disc Action speed (ms) Count Audio disc Play 10× >190 >4Extraction 30× <40 >50 Non-audio Play 10× >150 >80 disc Copy 40× <40>200

In a first embodiment of the present invention, the optical disc playerfor the non-audio disc changes its rotation speed from a higher dataaccess rate to a lower data access rate or keep the same rate, forexample, the lower data access rate is 10× for playing the non-audiodisc data.

Referring to FIG. 1. and FIG. 3, FIG. 3. is a first flow chart of thisinvention for controlling data access rate of the optical disc player,wherein a first data access rate is 40×, a second data access rate is10×. The present invention for controlling data access rate of theoptical disc player applies to the optical disc player system as shownin FIG. 1, therefore, no longer gives unnecessary detail in this. Thepresent invention for controlling data access rate of the optical discplayer, comprising the steps of:

Step 200: The optical disc player 10 initials in a working section tomake enable itself.

Step 202: The optical disc player 10 presets the first data access rate(higher data access rate, for example 40×) to access data.

Step 204: The host outputs a plurality of instructions of dataprocessing to the micro-controller 11 for retrieving the data from theoptical disc 22; the optical disc player 10 processes each one insequence.

Step 206: the micro-controller 11 executes the firmware of the opticaldisc player 10 and calculates continuously a plurality of command gapsbetween instructions of data processing.

Step 208: The micro-controller 11 checks whether the command gap betweentwo adjacent instructions is larger than a threshold value or not; ifyes, run step 210; if no, run step 212.

Step 210: The micro-controller 11 increments a total times which thecommand gap is greater than the threshold value by one during thepredetermined cycle.

Step 212: The micro-controller 11 judges whether the total times greaterthan a judging value; if yes, the data processing is the play operationof the non-audio disc and run step 214; if no, run step 216.

Step 214: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 in the second data access rate, for example 10×, toretrieve the data from the optical disc 22, wherein the second dataaccess rate is lower than the first data access rate; run step 204 whileaccomplish the data accessing.

Step 216: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 to maintain the first data access rate; run step 204while accomplish the data accessing.

The detail of above is as follows. The optical disc player 10 initialsin a working section to make enable itself, in one embodiment, theworking section relates to power on until power off. In anotherembodiment, the working section relates to power on, load an opticaldisc into the optical disc player until unload the optical disc, poweroff. After initial, the micro-controller 11 sets the rotation speed ofthe spindle motor 16 via the servo circuit 12 to the correspondinghighest speed supported by the optical disc player system 10, that is,the linear velocity of a predetermined track on the optical disc 22corresponds to the first data access rate (step 202). A plurality ofinstructions of data processing outputted to the micro-controller 11when the host wants to access the data of the optical disc 22, that is,the micro-controller 11 receives the instructions of data processingduring a predetermined cycle to retrieve the data from the optical disc22 (step 204), then the micro-controller 11 calculates continuouslycommand gaps between instructions of data processing (step 206), judgeswhether each one command gap larger than the threshold (step 208), andcounts the total times which the command gaps greater than the thresholdduring the predetermined cycle (step 210).

Considering the video disc, audio disc, or multi-media disc, when thehost executes an application program to access the data of the opticaldisc 22, for example, copying the data of the optical disc 22 and storein a hard disc player, the instructions of data accessing for commandthe micro-controller 11 to drive the servo circuit 12 for controllingthe pick-up head 20 to retrieve the data from the optical disc 22 andfeedback to the host. The application program does not need to performcomplicated process on the data. It only needs to control the storage ofdata into the hard disc player. Therefore, the command gaps between thecontinuous instructions of data accessing outputted from the host to themicro-controller 11 are short. For example, the command gaps are usuallylower than 40 milliseconds. On the contrary, when the host executes anapplication program to play the data of the optical disc 22, forexample, the application program retrieves the data from the opticaldisc 22, decodes the data, performs image processing, and outputs to aspeaker or a monitor. It needs to consider the processing time for thecalculation of the application program. Therefore, the command gapsbetween the continuous instructions of data accessing outputted from thehost to the micro-controller 11 are long. For example, the command gapsare usually longer than 150 milliseconds.

As described above, the total times will be greater than a judging valuewhen the host executes the application program to play the data of theoptical disc 22. On the contrary, the total times will be lower than ajudging value when the host executes the application program to retrievethe data from the optical disc 22 (step 212). Consequently, themicro-controller 11 controls the spindle motor 16 via the servo circuit12 to operate in a lower rotation speed supported by the optical discplayer 10, and make the linear velocity of the predetermined track onthe optical disc 22 corresponds to the second data access rate when thetotal times will be greater than a judging value, wherein the seconddata access rate is lower than the first data access rate (step 214). Inaddition, the rotation speed of the spindle motor 16 need not change forkeeping the linear velocity of the predetermined track on the opticaldisc 22 as the first data access rate (step 216).

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the command gapsbetween continuous instructions of data processing outputted by the hostare greater than 150 milliseconds when playing the video data. However,the command gaps between continuous instructions of data processingoutputted by the host are greater than 190 milliseconds when playing theaudio data. Therefore, for the video disc in this embodiment, themicro-controller 11 counts the command gaps greater than 150milliseconds and judges whether these command gaps are more than 65during 30 seconds in steps 208-212. For the audio disc in thisembodiment, the micro-controller 11 counts the command gaps greater than190 milliseconds and judges whether these command gaps are more than 4during 1.5 seconds in steps 208-212. For this reason, themicro-controller 11 can decide the application program plays the videodata or the audio data. Furthermore, the application program canretrieve the data in the second data access rate to avoid low quality ofplaying caused by the change of the rotation speed of the spindle motorused as habit. In addition, this embodiment cannot only applied to anoptical disc player with constant linear velocity architecture but alsoan optical disc player with constant angular velocity architecture.

In a second embodiment of the present invention, an optical disc playerfor the non-audio disc changes its rotation speed from a higher dataaccess rate to another higher data access rate or keep the same rate,for example, the another higher data access rate is 40× for copying thenon-audio disc data.

Referring to FIG. 1. and FIG. 4, FIG. 4. is a second flow chart of thisinvention for controlling data access rate of the optical disc player.The present invention for controlling data access rate of the opticaldisc player, comprising the steps of:

Step 300: The optical disc player 10 initials in a working section tomake enable itself.

Step 302: The optical disc player 10 presets a first data access rate toaccess data.

Step 304: The host outputs a plurality of instructions of dataprocessing to the micro-controller 11 for retrieving the data from theoptical disc 22; the optical disc player 10 processes each one insequence.

Step 306: the micro-controller 11 executes the firmware of the opticaldisc player 10 and calculates continuously a plurality of command gapsbetween instructions of data processing

Step 308: The micro-controller 11 checks whether the command gap betweentwo adjacent instructions is lower than a threshold value or not; ifyes, run step 310; if no, run step 312.

Step 310: The micro-controller 11 increments a total times which thecommand gap is smaller than the threshold value by one during thepredetermined cycle.

Step 312: The micro-controller 11 judges whether the total times greaterthan a judging value; if yes, run step 314; if no, run step 316.

Step 314: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 to maintain the first data access rate; run step 304while accomplish the data accessing.

Step 316: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 in the second data access rate to retrieve the datafrom the optical disc 22, wherein the second data access rate is higherthan the first data access rate; run step 304 while accomplish the dataaccessing.

The steps described above are similar to the flow shown in FIG. 3. Themain difference is in steps 308-310, and the micro-controller 11 countsthe total times that the command gaps lower than the threshold duringthe predetermined cycle. For the video disc, the total times will belarger than a judging value when the host executes the applicationprogram to extract data from the video disc, for example, copy the dataand store the data in a hard-disc player (step 312). In this situation,the rotation speed of the spindle motor 16 does not need to adjust, butkeep the linear velocity of the predetermined track on the optical disc22 as the first data access rate (step 314). On the contrary, the totaltimes will be lower than a judging value when the host executes theapplication program to play data from the video disc (step 312), and themicro-controller 11 controls the spindle motor 16 via the servo circuit12 to operate in a lower rotation speed supported by the optical discplayer 10, and make the linear velocity of the predetermined track onthe optical disc 22 corresponds to a second data access rate (step 316),wherein the second data access rate is lower than the first data accessrate.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, the command gapsbetween continuous instructions of data processing outputted by the hostare lower than 150 milliseconds when playing the video data. However,the command gaps between continuous instructions of data processingoutputted by the host are lower than 190 milliseconds when playing theaudio data. Therefore, for the video disc in this embodiment, themicro-controller 11 counts the command gaps greater than 150milliseconds and judges whether these command gaps are more than 65during 30 seconds in steps 308-312. For the audio disc in thisembodiment, the micro-controller 11 counts the command gaps greater than190 milliseconds and judges whether these command gaps are more than 4during 1.5 seconds in steps 308-312. For this reason, themicro-controller 11 can decide the application program plays the videodata or the audio data. Furthermore, the application program canretrieve the data in the second data access rate to avoid low quality ofplaying caused by the change of the rotation speed of the spindle motorused as habit. In addition, this embodiment cannot only applied to anoptical disc player with constant linear velocity architecture but alsoan optical disc player with constant angular velocity architecture.

In a third embodiment of the present invention, an optical disc playerfor the audio disc changes its rotation speed from a lower data accessrate to another lower data access rate or keep the same rate, forexample, the lower data access rate is 10× for retrieving the audio discdata.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 3 and FIG. 5. FIG. 5. is a third flow chart ofthis invention for controlling data access rate of the optical discplayer. The present invention for controlling data access rate of theoptical disc player, comprising the steps of:

Step 400: The optical disc player 10 initials in a working section tomake enable itself.

Step 402: The optical disc player 10 presets a second data access rateto access data.

Step 404: The host outputs a plurality of instructions of dataprocessing to the micro-controller 11 for retrieving the data from theoptical disc 22; the optical disc player 10 processes each one insequence.

Step 406: the micro-controller 11 executes the firmware of the opticaldisc player 10 and calculates continuously a plurality of command gapsbetween instructions of data processing.

Step 408: The micro-controller 11 checks whether the command gap betweentwo adjacent instructions is greater than a threshold value or not; ifyes, run step 410; if no, run step 412.

Step 410: The micro-controller 11 increments a total times which thecommand gap is greater than the threshold value by one during thepredetermined cycle.

Step 412: The micro-controller 11 judges whether the total times greaterthan a judging value; if yes, run step 414; if no, run step 416.

Step 414: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 to maintain the second data access rate; run step 404while accomplish the data accessing.

Step 416: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 in a first data access rate to retrieve the data fromthe optical disc 22, wherein the first data access rate is greater thanthe second data access rate; run step 404 while accomplish the dataaccessing.

The steps described above are similar to the flow shown in FIG. 3.However, a default data access rate is the second data access rate thatis the lower data access rate in the flow shown in FIG. 5. The spindlemotor 16 starts to speed the spindle up, which causes that the linearvelocity of the predetermined track on the optical disc 22 correspondsto the second data access rate. Therefore, the total times is notgreater than the judging value (step 410) when the host executes theapplication program to extract the audio data of the optical disc 22,and the micro-controller 11 controls the motor driving circuit 14 viathe servo circuit 12 to make the spindle motor 16 operates in a higherrotation speed supported by the optical disc player system 10. It causesthat the linear velocity of the predetermined track on the optical disc22 corresponds to the first data access rate (step 416), wherein thefirst data access rate is greater than the second data access rate. Inaddition, the rotation speed of the spindle motor 16 need not change andkeeps the second data access rate when the total times is greater thanthe judging value (step 414).

In the third embodiment of the present invention, the command gapsbetween continuous instructions of data processing outputted by the hostare smaller than 40 milliseconds when extracting the audio data.Therefore, for the audio disc in this embodiment, the micro-controller11 counts the command gaps greater than 190 milliseconds and judgeswhether these command gaps are more than 4 during 1.5 seconds in steps408-412. For this reason, the micro-controller 11 can decide theapplication program plays or extracts the audio data. Furthermore, theapplication program can retrieve the data by keeping the second dataaccess rate to avoid low quality of playing caused by the change of therotation speed of the spindle motor used as habit. In addition, thisembodiment cannot only applied to an optical disc player with constantlinear velocity architecture but also an optical disc player withconstant angular velocity architecture.

In a forth embodiment of the present invention, an optical disc playerfor the audio disc changes its rotation speed from a lower data accessrate to a higher data access rate or keep the same rate, for example,the higher data access rate is 30× for retrieving the audio disc data.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. FIG. 6. is a forth flow chart ofthis invention for controlling data access rate of the optical discplayer. The present invention for controlling data access rate of theoptical disc player, comprising the steps of:

Step 500: The optical disc player 10 initials in a working section tomake enable itself.

Step 502: The optical disc player 10 presets a second data access rateto access data.

Step 504: The host outputs a plurality of instructions of dataprocessing to the micro-controller 11 for retrieving the data from theoptical disc 22; the optical disc player 10 processes each one insequence.

Step 506: the micro-controller 11 executes the firmware of the opticaldisc player 10 and calculates continuously a plurality of command gapsbetween instructions of data processing.

Step 508: The micro-controller 11 checks whether the command gap betweentwo adjacent instructions is smaller than a threshold value or not; ifyes, run step 510; if no, run step 512.

Step 510: The micro-controller 11 increments a total times which thecommand gap is smaller than the threshold value by one during thepredetermined cycle.

Step 512: The micro-controller 11 judges whether the total times greaterthan a judging value; if yes, run step 514; if no, run step 516.

Step 514: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 in a first data access rate to retrieve the data fromthe optical disc 22, wherein the first data access rate is greater thanthe second data access rate; run step 504 while accomplish the dataaccessing.

Step 516: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 to maintain the second data access rate; run step 504while accomplish the data accessing.

The steps described above are similar to the flow shown in FIG. 5. Thespindle motor 16 starts to speed the spindle up, which causes that thelinear velocity of the predetermined track on the optical disc 22corresponds to the second data access rate. Therefore, the total timesis not greater than the judging value (step 510) when the host executesthe application program to extract the audio data of the optical disc22, and the micro-controller 11 controls the motor driving circuit 14via the servo circuit 12 to make the spindle motor 16 operates in ahigher rotation speed supported by the optical disc player system 10. Itcauses that the linear velocity of the predetermined track on theoptical disc 22 corresponds to the first data access rate (step 514),wherein the first data access rate is greater than the second dataaccess rate. In addition, the rotation speed of the spindle motor 16need not change and keeps the second data access rate when the totaltimes is smaller than the judging value (step 516).

In the forth embodiment of the present invention, the command gapsbetween continuous instructions of data processing outputted by the hostare smaller than 40 milliseconds when extracting the audio data.Therefore, for the audio disc in this embodiment, the micro-controller11 counts the command gaps greater than 190 milliseconds and judgeswhether these command gaps are more than 4 during 1.5 seconds in steps508-512. For this reason, the micro-controller 11 can decide theapplication program plays or extracts the audio data. Furthermore, theapplication program can retrieve the data by keeping the second dataaccess rate to avoid low quality of playing caused by the change of therotation speed of the spindle motor used as habit. In addition, thisembodiment cannot only applied to an optical disc player with constantlinear velocity architecture but also an optical disc player withconstant angular velocity architecture.

In a fifth embodiment of the present invention, an optical disc playerchanges its rotation speed from a higher data access rate to a lowerdata access rate or keep the same rate.

Referring to FIG. 1. and FIG. 7. FIG. 7. is a fifth flow chart of thisinvention for controlling data access rate of the optical disc player.The present invention for controlling data access rate of the opticaldisc player, comprising the steps of:

Step 600: The optical disc player 10 initials in a working section tomake enable itself.

Step 602: The optical disc player 10 presets a first data access rate toaccess data.

Step 604: The host outputs a plurality of instructions of dataprocessing to the micro-controller 11 for retrieving the data from theoptical disc 22; the optical disc player 10 processes each one insequence.

Step 606: the micro-controller 11 executes the firmware of the opticaldisc player 10, calculates continuously a plurality of command gapsbetween instructions of data processing and gets an average of thecommand gaps during a predetermined cycle.

Step 608: The micro-controller 11 judges whether the average greaterthan a judging value; if yes, run step 610; if no, run step 612.

Step 610: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 in a second data access rate to retrieve the data fromthe optical disc 22, wherein the second data access rate is smaller thanthe first data access rate; run step 604 while accomplish the dataaccessing.

Step 612: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 to maintain the first data access rate; run step 604while accomplish the data accessing.

The details of above steps are as follows: The micro-controller 11 setsthe spindle motor 16 via the servo circuit 12 the higher rotation speedsupported by the optical disc player system 10, which causes that thelinear velocity of the predetermined track on the optical disc 22corresponds to the first data access rate (step 602). Themicro-controller 11 receives a plurality of instructions of dataaccessing (step 604) when the host executes the application program toaccess the data of the optical disc 22, and calculates continuously aplurality of command gaps between instructions of data processing andgets an average of the command gaps during a predetermined cycle (step606). Then, the average of the command gaps is greater than a judgingvalue when the application program executed by the host plays the dataof the optical disc. The average of the command gaps, however, issmaller than the judging value when the application program executed bythe host extracts the data of the optical disc (step 608). Therefore,the micro-controller 11 controls the motor driving circuit 14 via theservo circuit 12 to make the spindle motor 16 operates in a lowerrotation speed supported by the optical disc player system 10 when theaverage is greater than the judging value. It causes that the linearvelocity of the predetermined track on the optical disc 22 correspondsto the second data access rate (step 610), wherein the second dataaccess rate is lower than the first data access rate. In addition, therotation speed of the spindle motor 16 need not change and keeps thefirst data access rate when the average is smaller than the judgingvalue (step 612). And this embodiment cannot only applied to an opticaldisc player with constant linear velocity architecture but also anoptical disc player with constant angular velocity architecture.

In a sixth embodiment of the present invention, an optical disc playerchanges its rotation speed from a lower data access rate to anotherlower data access rate or keep the same rate.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 7. and FIG. 8. FIG. 8. is a sixth flow chartof this invention for controlling data access rate of the optical discplayer. The present invention for controlling data access rate of theoptical disc player, comprising the steps of:

Step 700: The optical disc player 10 initials in a working section tomake enable itself.

Step 702: The optical disc player 10 presets a second data access rateto access data.

Step 704: The host outputs a plurality of instructions of dataprocessing to the micro-controller 11 for retrieving the data from theoptical disc 22; the optical disc player 10 processes each one insequence.

Step 706: the micro-controller 11 executes the firmware of the opticaldisc player 10, calculates continuously a plurality of command gapsbetween instructions of data processing and gets an average of thecommand gaps during a predetermined cycle.

Step 708: The micro-controller 11 judges whether the average greaterthan a judging value; if yes, run step 710; if no, run step 712.

Step 710: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 to maintain the second data access rate; run step 704while accomplish the data accessing.

Step 712: The micro-controller controls the spindle motor 16 via theservo circuit 12 in a first data access rate to retrieve the data fromthe optical disc 22, wherein the first data access rate is greater thanthe second data access rate; run step 704 while accomplish the dataaccessing.

The steps described above are similar to the flow shown in FIG. 7.However, a default data access rate is the second data access rate thatis the lower data access rate in the flow shown in FIG. 8. The spindlemotor 16 starts to speed the spindle up, which causes that the linearvelocity of the predetermined track on the optical disc 22 correspondsto the second data access rate. Therefore, the average is greater thanthe judging value (step 706) when the host executes the applicationprogram to extract the audio data or the video data, and the rotationspeed of the spindle motor 16 need not change and keeps the second dataaccess rate when the total times is greater than the judging value (step710). On the contrary, the micro-controller 11 controls the motordriving circuit 14 via the servo circuit 12 to make the spindle motor 16operates in a higher rotation speed supported by the optical disc playersystem 10 when the application program executed by the host justextracts the data of the optical disc. It causes that the linearvelocity of the predetermined track on the optical disc 22 correspondsto the first data access rate (step 712), wherein the first data accessrate is greater than the second data access rate. In addition, thisembodiment cannot only applied to an optical disc player with constantlinear velocity architecture but also an optical disc player withconstant angular velocity architecture.

The present invention relates to a method for controlling the dataaccess rate of an optical disc player. Comparing with the prior art,this invention comprises the steps of: judging whether a data processingexecuted by an application program is an extraction operation or a playoperation, driving linear velocity of a predetermined track tocorrespond to a higher data access rate by a spindle motor when the dataprocessing is the extraction operation, and driving linear velocity of apredetermined track to correspond to a lower data access rate by thespindle motor when the data processing is the play operation. Therefore,the rotation speed of the spindle motor does not switch as frequent asthe prior art when a user executes the application program of a host toplay the video data or the audio data of the optical disc, and thepick-up head can retrieve the data from the optical disc stably. Inother words, the present invention for controlling the data access rateof an optical disc player causes better performance when operation ofthe optical disc player is playing, further gives the competitiveadvantage.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

1. A method for controlling a data access rate of an optical disc playerin a computer system, the method utilizing a micro-controller to controldata access rate of retrieving a predetermined track from an opticaldisc, the method comprising: utilizing the computer system of a host toexecute a predetermined data processing, and output a plurality ofinstructions of data processing to the micro-controller; determining bythe micro-controller whether action of an instruction of thepredetermined data processing is an extraction operation or a playoperation, wherein the determining includes: computing a plurality ofcommand gaps of instructions of data processing outputted to the opticaldisc player by the host, calculating an average value of the commandgaps during a predetermined cycle; comparing the average value with ajudging value; and deciding the predetermined data processing is theplay operation when the average value is greater than the judging value;otherwise, deciding the predetermined data processing is the extractionoperation; controlling a spindle motor and a pick-up head to retrievedata from the optical disc at a first data access rate by themicro-controller while the action of the instruction of thepredetermined data processing is an extraction operation; controllingthe spindle motor and the pick-up head to retrieve data from the opticaldisc at a second data access rate less than the first data access rateby the micro-controller while the action of the instruction of thepredetermined data processing is a play operation; and transmittingdigital data to the host which executes the predetermined dataprocessing after retrieving the predetermined track from the opticaldisc.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein utilizing the micro-controllerto decide whether action of the instruction of the predetermined dataprocessing is the extraction operation or the play operation,comprising: utilizing the micro-controller to calculate continuously aplurality of command gaps of instructions of data processing outputtedto the optical disc player by the host; and utilizing themicro-controller to compare the command gaps with a threshold and counttotal times of the command gaps less than the threshold during apredetermined cycle.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein utilizing themicro-controller to decide whether action of the instruction of thepredetermined data processing is the extraction operation or the playoperation, comprising: utilizing the micro-controller to calculatecontinuously a plurality of command gaps of instructions of dataprocessing outputted to the optical disc player by the host; andutilizing the micro-controller to compare the command gaps with athreshold and count total times of the command gaps greater than thethreshold during a predetermined cycle.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising: selling the first data access rate for the opticaldisc player by the micro-controller before the computer system of thehost outputs a plurality of instructions of data processing to themicro-controller.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: sellingthe second data access rate for the optical disc player by themicro-controller before the computer system of the host outputs aplurality of instructions of data processing to the micro-controller. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein the optical disc player operates at aconstant linear velocity (CLV).
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theoptical disc player operates at a constant angular velocity (CAV). 8.The method of claim 1, wherein utilizing the micro-controller to decidewhether action of the instruction of the predetermined data processingis the extraction operation or the play operation, includes executingfirmware of the optical disc player.
 9. A method for adjusting a dataaccess rate of retrieving data from an optical disc by an optical discplayer, the method comprising: measuring each command gap betweenadjacent instructions of data processing; judging the action of theinstructions of data processing of the optical disc player by apredetermined rule, wherein the predetermined rule is to measure a firstcount of the command gaps greater than a first threshold during a firstpredetermined cycle and a second count of the command gaps less than asecond threshold during a second predetermined cycle, and wherein thepredetermined rule is to judge the action of the instructions of dataprocessing according to the command gaps, the first count and the secondcount; and adjusting the data access rate of the optical disc playeraccording to the action of the instructions of data processing,controlling the optical disc player to retrieve data from the opticaldisc at a first data access rate if the action of the instruction is anextraction operation, controlling the optical disc player to retrievedata from the optical disc at a second data access rate which is lessthan the first data access rate if the action of the instruction is aplay operation.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the predeterminedrule further comprises the steps of: judging the action of instructionsof data processing to be the play operation when the first threshold andthe first count are located in a first area.
 11. A method for adjustinga data access rate of retrieving data from an optical disc by an opticaldisc player, the method comprising: measuring each command an betweenadjacent instructions of data processing; judging the action of theinstructions of data processing of the optical disc Player by apredetermined rule, wherein the predetermined rule is to measure a firstcount of the command gaps greater than a first threshold during a firstpredetermined cycle and a second count of the command gaps less than asecond threshold during a second predetermined cycle, and wherein thepredetermined rule is to judge the action of the instructions of dataprocessing according to the command gaps, the first count and the secondcount; wherein the predetermined rule comprises judging the action ofinstructions of data processing to be the play operation when the firstthreshold and the first count are located in a first area; and adjustingthe data access rate of the optical disc player according to the actionof the instructions of data processing, controlling the optical discplayer to retrieve data from the optical disc at a first data accessrate if the action of the instruction is an extraction operation,controlling the optical disc player to retrieve data from the opticaldisc at a second data access rate which is less than the first dataaccess rate if the action of the instruction is a play operation;wherein a setting range of the first threshold is about 170˜120 ms and asetting range of the first count is about 10˜70, when a format of theoptical disc is an audio type.
 12. A method for adjusting a data accessrate of retrieving data from an optical disc by an optical disc player,the method comprising: measuring each command gap between adjacentinstructions of data processing; judging the action of the instructionsof data processing of the optical disc player by a predetermined rule,wherein the predetermined rule is to measure a first count of thecommand gaps greater than a first threshold during a first predeterminedcycle and a second count of the command gaps less than a secondthreshold during a second predetermined cycle, and wherein thepredetermined rule is to judge the action of the instructions of dataprocessing according to the command gaps, the first count and the secondcount; wherein the predetermined rule comprises judging the action ofinstructions of data processing to be the play operation when the firstthreshold and the first count are located in a first area; and adjustingthe data access rate of the optical disc player according to the actionof the instructions of data processing, controlling the optical discplayer to retrieve data from the optical disc at a first data accessrate if the action of the instruction is an extraction operation,controlling the optical disc player to retrieve data from the opticaldisc at a second data access rate which is less than the first dataaccess rate if the action of the instruction is a play operation;wherein a setting range of the first threshold is about 130˜200 ms and asetting range of the first count is about 50˜110, when a format of theoptical disc is a non-audio type.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein thepredetermined rule further comprises the steps of: judging the action ofinstructions of data processing to be an extraction operation while thesecond threshold and the second count are located in a second area. 14.A method for adjusting a data access rate of retrieving data from anoptical disc by an optical disc player, the method comprising: measuringeach command gap between adjacent instructions of data processing;judging the action of the instructions of data processing of the opticaldisc player by a predetermined rule, wherein the predetermined rule isto measure a first count of the command gaps greater than a firstthreshold during a first predetermined cycle and a second count of thecommand gaps less than a second threshold during a second predeterminedcycle, and wherein the predetermined rule is to judge the action of theinstructions of data processing according to the command gaps, the firstcount and the second count; wherein the predetermined rule comprisesjudging the action of instructions of data processing to be anextraction operation while the second threshold and the second count arelocated in a second area; and adjusting the data access rate of theoptical disc player according to the action of the instructions of dataprocessing, controlling the optical disc player to retrieve data fromthe optical disc at a first data access rate if the action of theinstruction is an extraction operation, controlling the optical discplayer to retrieve data from the optical disc at a second data accessrate which is less than the first data access rate if the action of theinstruction is a play operation; wherein a selling range of the secondthreshold is about 10˜45 ms and a selling range of the first count isabout 40˜80, when a format of the optical disc is an audio type.
 15. Amethod for adjusting a data access rate of retrieving data from anoptical disc by an optical disc player, the method comprising: measuringeach command gap between adjacent instructions of data processing;judging the action of the instructions of data processing of the opticaldisc player by a predetermined rule, wherein the predetermined rule isto measure a first count of the command gaps greater than a firstthreshold during a first predetermined cycle and a second count of thecommand gaps less than a second threshold during a second predeterminedcycle, and wherein the predetermined rule is to judge the action of theinstructions of data processing according to the command gaps, the firstcount and the second count; wherein the predetermined rule comprisesjudging the action of instructions of data processing to be anextraction operation while the second threshold and the second count arelocated in a second area; and adjusting the data access rate of theoptical disc player according to the action of the instructions of dataprocessing, controlling the optical disc player to retrieve data fromthe optical disc at a first data access rate if the action of theinstruction is an extraction operation, controlling the optical discplayer to retrieve data from the optical disc at a second data accessrate which is less than the first data access rate if the action of theinstruction is a player operation; wherein a setting range of the secondthreshold is about 10˜45 ms and a setting range of the first count isabout 180˜300, when a format of the optical disc is a non-audio type.16. An apparatus for controlling a data access rate of an optical discplayer, comprising: a measuring circuit for measuring a command gapbetween adjacent instructions of data processing; a judging circuit forjudging the action of the instructions of data processing according to apredetermined rule, wherein the predetermined rule is to measure a firstcount if the command gaps are greater than a first threshold during afirst predetermined cycle and a second count if the command gaps areless than a second threshold during a second predetermined cycle,wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold, andwherein the predetermined rule is to judge the action of theinstructions of data processing according to the command gaps, the firstcount and the second count, and an adjusting circuit for adjusting thedata access rate of the optical disc player according to the action ofthe instructions of data processing, controlling the optical disc playerto retrieve data from the optical disc at a first data access rate whenthe action of the instruction is an extraction operation, controllingthe optical disc player to retrieve data from the optical disc at asecond data access rate which is less than the first data access ratewhen the action of the instruction is a play operation.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 16, wherein the action of instructions of dataprocessing is judged to be the play operation when the first thresholdand the first count are located in a first area, and the action ofinstructions of data processing is judged to be the extraction operationwhen the second threshold and the second count are located in a secondarea.
 18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first threshold isgreater than the second threshold.